Not Celebrating :)

New running socks: Gift to self for losing 25 pounds :)

Any fellow finishers out there? I officially have 80 million projects that are (all at once) in the for-really-real-finishing mode. One such project is me! No, that doesn’t mean I am going to start talking about myself in the third person, but it does mean that I have reached my weight-loss goal of -25 pounds. As odd as this may sound, I don’t feel like I should start celebrating because “celebrating” is what will lead to gaining it all back. Instead, I am just giving myself a quick, little nod of recognition, and moving forward. This is one Finish Line that I am walking across with energy to spare. No medals, no after party. Nothing to see here, people! :)

 

Here are 25 things I learned while permanently losing weight:

1. You have to make a commitment.
2. That means you can count on a certain amount of discomfort
3. Because it is in our nature to rebel
4. You will most likely rebel during this process
5. When that happens, get over it, and move on, or your goal will run out of oxygen and die
6. Beating yourself up for not being perfect is THE WORST thing you can do.
7. It is worse than drinking beer and eating pizza 3 nights a week
8. It is worse than mindlessly pouring olive oil into your sauté pan 5 nights a week and not realizing that one serving of olive oil = 1 TBS
9. It is worse than eating fast food more than once per year
10. It is worse than drinking soda (either diet or regular)
11. It is worse than mindlessly snacking
12. It is worse than skipping breakfast
13. It is worse than eating diet food
14. It is worse than not knowing what a portion of something is, especially cheese
15. It is worse than going out to eat 3-5 times per week
16. It is worse than not eating all of your servings of fruit and veggies 
17. It is worse than not getting enough protein 
18. It is worse than eating too much food out of a box 
19. It is worse than believing that if you are exercising, you can eat whatever you want 
20. You will be humbled, especially if you thought you knew everything there was to know about weight loss 
21. Your roommate/spouse/pet/kid/parents/officemate can either make this 10 times easier, or 10 times harder.   
22. You don’t have to cut anything out of your diet, but you probably should 
23. Be prepared for circumstances out of your control and routine 
24. Be prepared for weekends, weddings, parties, lunch meetings, travel, food-as-gifts, babies not sleeping through the night, and compliments 
25. Learn how to take a compliment. Not knowing how to take one is almost as bad as beating yourself up for not being perfect :)